Bill in Legislature would penalize some Medicaid recipients with fees

Those who become eligible for Medicaid under the new federal law would be hit with a fee if they went to hospital emergency rooms with non-emergency ailments or injuries under a bill introduced in the Nevada Senate on Monday.

“It’s about trying to discourage people from using the emergency room as a primary care physician,” said Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno, the primary sponsor of Senate Bill 306.

The bill applies only to those who are added to Medicaid rolls under the Affordable Care Act. It would require recipients to pay a $5 fee for going to an emergency room when emergency services are not necessary.

“If you go into an emergency and are bleeding, forget that (the fee),” Kieckhefer said.

The bill would also impose a $2 fee on a new Medicaid patient for using an intermediate care or an independent center for emergency medical care.

No fees would be assessed for recipients' visits to their primary doctors, Kieckhefer said.

In his message to the Legislature, Gov. Brian Sandoval said, “I believe we must ask certain Medicaid patients to make a modest contribution toward the cost of their own care.”

Kieckhefer said his proposal is different from the suggestion by the governor, who has not yet unveiled his idea.

“What I’m proposing is co-payment that would be collected by the providers at the point of contact. It would not offset the state’s Medicaid payment,” Kieckhefer said.

“It would not necessarily have an impact on the state either negative or positive,” he said. “It’s really intended to try to get people to think about their access to health care and their appropriate level of care.”

Emergency care is the most expensive and it drives up the cost of health care for everyone, Kieckhefer said.

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Do not members of the Legislature have anything better to do with their time than think up ludicrous nonsense. Just how and who will determine the need for care....a hysterical mom whose child has broken out in a severe rash [from poison ivy of which she knows nothing] or the jaded emergency room intake clerk who has seen it all or the overworked doc or nurse-practioner? Overuse of emergency rooms is a well-known phenomena but it is not as if the people coming in are there for a lark. One risk is that the well-gorged legislator will mistake severe indigestion from rich food for a heart attack....but bloated Billy the leg won't have to pay. Only the poor, the elderly, the disabled, those not familiar with medical conditions. But maybe it will serve its purpose and keep all those trashy malingerers away from the e-room so that real people can get the care that they need in a timely manner.

Maybe this legislator will be surprised and will find out that once people have medicaid, they won't "over use" the ER. The reason so many low income people have been using the ER is because they have been denied medicaid in this cheap skate state. The only thing this legislature has done is propose laws that either put people in prison longer, lower minimum wage, end prevailing wage, drug test welfare recipients and suck every dime they can out of the pocket of taxpayers so they can avoid taxing mines. If they think that this is the way they will get re-elected they had better think again, I don't think too many people are amused by this group of part time hacks in Carson City

The Medicaid users should actually be paying a lot more for using emergency services when there is no emergency. Word gets out pretty quickly in this community that you are going to pay plenty for using the emergency room as your family doctor. Make them pay through the nose.

Nevada is not a "cheap skate" state and that is a cheap shot at trying to control costs. If you are unhappy with the way the legislature is trying to keep taxes down then please move to Illinois or California. Both states are in horrible shape due to misuse of Medicaid by many citizens of those states. This is not California and thankfully never will.

Take the time for NEEDED legislation. 2 years consecutive, 5 year lifetime LIMIT to Medicaid recipients. If you can't get your act together in 5 years and you don't qualify for disability, it's time for YOU to deal with it. Stop draining our programs.